IndyBlog

Officer got high rating after takedown of teen

Officer Tyler Walker, who was captured on video throwing Alexis Acker to the floor, scored a 92 percent rating on his performance evaluation within two months after the November 2013 incident, according to records obtained by the Independent via an open-records request.

In an evaluation completed in January 2014, he was scored 2.77 out of 3.01. That was an improvement over his rating of 2.57, or 85.5 percent, for 2012, an evaluation completed in January 2013 shows.

Most recently, in January 2015, he was rated 2.36, or 78 percent, after a transfer from the Sand Creek patrol division to vice and narcotics, records show.

In evaluations completed under a different format before that, he was rated either excellent or effective — the top two levels — in every category. Walker was hired as a police officer Jan. 30, 2008, and in October 2008 received a commander's commendationfor investigation of a theft ring.

Before hiring on as an officer, Walker worked in the Colorado Springs Police Department's Information Technology Department since at least 2002 when he received his first formal job performance review and scored the top rating of effective. He was rated effective as a tech or analyst in subsequent years as well.

When he applied with the city in 2000, he listed his father, Rod Walker, as working in the CSPD homicide division. Rod Walker rose to deputy chief before retiring a few years ago.

Walker could face termination pending an Internal Affairs investigation for the November 2013 takedown of Acker, a probe under taken only after Acker's attorney sent the city a letter in May 2014 saying a suit was in the offing.